Latest / Between the Flags / Balancing it all , life, horses and family - meet Katie Taliana
Transcript
- Fiona Hughes: G'day legends and welcome to Between the Flags. your Aussie eventing chat show. We'll bring you honest conversations, expert insights and a bit of cheeky fun from the riders, the coaches and even those amazing folks shaping our sport in Australia and beyond. Whether you're a young rider chasing your first star class start, a parent, a horse owner who lives and breathes eventing between the flags is your go to chat show. Ride along with Prue Barrett and Fiona Hughes. Let's go, EVING team. Hey, Peru! Prue: Hey, Faye, how you going? Fiona Hughes: ⁓ ready to get started, get out of the start box with another Between the Flags episode. Prue: Alrighty, well, I think we'll get going with an introduction for everybody because today we're chatting with a rider who's quietly built her career in Australian eventing and done it her own way. Katie Talliana was a horse-mad kid growing up in the Blue Mountains of Western Sydney. Eventing certainly wasn't the obvious path, but riding with her coaches, diving into the sport and embracing the challenge and camaraderie, she fell in love with it. After many riding lessons on school horses, Katie and her coaches, Fiona and Charmaine, convinced her parents to buy a first pony. And by 2004 she was competing Junior 1 Star, which now we call 2 Star, with the buckskin gelding, Garson Joseph, starting her FEI journey during her HSC year. After finishing school in 2004, Katie spent a few years as a working student in Australia, putting in the hard yards, learning skills and laying the groundwork for her future in the sport. Then in 2009, Katie made the bold move to the UK. She immersed herself in high-performance eventing, grooming for Zara Phillips at UK events, including plenty of five stars and European championships, gaining a front-row education in what it takes to operate at the very top. also known as Marco, came along in 2011 and that partnership really gathered momentum, initially overseas but then back home. In 2014, Friday Street, a thoroughbred, joined the team and jumping forward to 2018, Katie was top 10 at Adelaide in both the five-star and four-star with these two horses. These days, Katie and her husband Nick run a successful equestrian business in Wilberforce, New South Wales. balancing competing, coaching, developing a team of young horses, all whilst managing a family life with their two daughters. Sounds quite exhausting actually. It's a story of patience, persistence and building a career the long way. And we're so excited to dive into it. Katie, welcome. We're so glad you're here. Fiona Hughes: Hello! That was very, ⁓ thorough. Prue: We like thorough. Fiona Hughes: I have to admit, it's very thorough. It's a journey. It's a journey, that we're covering and we're glad to welcome you to our show. to be here. Yeah, good on you. So, Katie, you know, give us a little bit of an idea of your first... horsey travels? Well I was just yeah like you said in the intro I was the annoying horsey girl at school the one that always wears the horsey t-shirt to mufti days and when it was dress up with what you want to be I arrived in Jodhpur's and even you Just everything horsey I did. I read a lot of books and so I would read Saddle Club, All the Pony Pals, an eventing series that I loved. Everything revolved around horses. And then ⁓ every birthday I would get asked to go for a trail ride and my poor, very unhorsey sister would get dragged along because mum didn't want me to go by myself. So my sister would have to ride on a trail ride once a year because my mom would force her to go with me. And then for my 12th birthday, think, or 10th, I can't remember, I got four riding lessons given to me for my birthday. So that was very exciting because I learned to canter. And then a friend of mine got some horses that she was going trail riding with and she was from my primary school. And we weren't really in the same group of friends, but she remembered the crazy horse girl from her primary school and called me and said, hey, do you want to come for a horse ride? And I went, well, obviously. And so that's how I sort of started with the horse journey, I guess. Yeah. Definitely the primary school friend has been your long lasting mate in your horsey journey hasn't she? Yeah, yeah and you know we now live around the corner from one another and she show jumps and yeah she's got a little boy as well so yeah Mel and I have stood the test of time I guess. When do you reckon, that you knew that you were going to kick on and just take on this career, this crazy career of eventing? What was the light globe moment for you? I don't think I really had a light globe moment. I used to, you know, buy all the horsey magazines, like the kid horsey magazines. from the news agency and I guess at the time there was a lot of eventing in the magazines because of 2000 games and whatnot. So I guess I told everyone I wanted to be an eventer. Meanwhile, we went to the Sydney games and I told mum I wanted to go watch the horse, the eventing. So they bought tickets for dressage day. And so we sat and watched Dressage All Day, which even I thought was a bit boring, given that I had never written a dressage test. I didn't know what I was looking at. And mum said, ⁓ well, maybe the cross-country is on out the back. Like, we had no idea that it was run over three days. That's how clueless we were. And so they ended up buying tickets for cross-country day as well, thankfully. So we got to watch that as well. But I was so clueless about it. And yet I still... told everyone that I was gonna be a three day eventer. And then when we came to, you know, a gist with you guys, it was the natural progression, I guess. I went to events with you and I think even my first one day event mum didn't even come to, I went with yourself and Charmaine and I just loved it. And I make a lot of friends going eventing, so you just keep going. So Katie, do you feel as though when you had the idea to head over to Zara Phillips, how did that make you feel? Like was that a massive step in your career or what was it that spurred you on to do that? I don't really know what made me want to do it. Charmaine, like I'd been working for Charmaine. And then she had moved to Tamworth and I didn't want to go to Tamworth. So I had stayed and run her place a little bit for her parents. And I was coaching in at Centennial Park. So there was a lot of driving around. Like I was living at Mum and Dad's in the Blue Mountains, driving to Leppington, doing the horses there, then driving to Centennial Park, coaching until 7 p.m. and then driving back up to the Blue Mountains again. ⁓ and like I enjoyed it, but it was a lot and I just didn't feel like I was achieving anything. ⁓ and then the opportunity came up, I mentioned to Charmaine that maybe I'd go overseas for a year to just travel around. And then she ended up saying, well, I could probably get you a job over there. Do you want me to try? So I said, ⁓ well, sure. And ended up getting the job with Zara through her cousin Christelle, which was amazing. And ⁓ then suddenly they were ringing me every 10 minutes going, when are you getting your visa? We need you right now. So I left Charmaine with some horses to sell ⁓ and packed my bags and left. you know, and then I was there for a few years and it was very addictive lifestyle. ⁓ because it's just so full on and there's events all the time and you can school at these amazing facilities. as far as I was concerned, I was there and I was staying and I was never coming home. What do you think about, it was a big leap back in the day, wasn't it? Would you think that, you you'd say to any of the students you've got these days, go ahead and do it? How do you feel about that, guys? For sure. I'd say go do it. I'd say be careful who you work for, because I was really, really lucky and I worked for an amazing woman. But, you know, not all that nice. It was like she was so generous with her time and with her knowledge. that I learnt so much and you just learn so much going to those amazing events. it's just uncomparable. I think the lifestyle in Australia is way better, but to be able to go to those events in those atmosphere and see how they train their horses in a, you know, quite a different system, it was very eye-opening and I'd recommend it for honestly anyone. Do you think any of the things that you experienced, have they shaped where you've gone with your horses these days? Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I couldn't necessarily pinpoint exactly which parts, but yeah, definitely. Even just like trying to ride them on different surfaces all the time. You know, I show jump a lot now and they all ride on very perfect surfaces. But, you know, in England, we were riding them out in the slippery mud. And then they'd go on the road. And then even when it was snowing, you'd grit the road out to the field so that they could always get out to the field. We'd ride them in the snow. And they were very fit. well adjusted horses that could go on any terrain and feel strong. Whereas you know I think a lot of people well and even myself get trapped into that a little bit. When you're trapped on the arena it's very hard to make your horses strong. Yeah yeah yeah it's a hard part of horse training and horse riding around certainly the Sydney area where There's not a lot of availability to get off the arena and go riding on the roads and so on and that sort of thing. And they'd have dedicated hill days and it wouldn't matter if the ground was slippery, they'd still go out and do their hills in the slop and they'd slip all over the place but all it did was make them more agile, really. Yeah, interesting. I think we're very protective of the surfaces these days, isn't it? staying with the chapter of the UK experience, what led you to return to Australia? ⁓ What's that Okay, well, the Mel, Melissa Blair, so she sent me an email. And we emailed back and forth quite often. I flew home for her wedding and everything. were in contact. And then I flew back to England and I was there for another six months after her wedding. And then she sent me an email and it was titled, I've found your husband. And in the email she said, oh, I found this guy. went to Barry's show and he helped me with my studs and he was so lovely and he's just so so much like you very relaxed and chill and and he's just really really nice and he has a Grand Prix show jumper and you know blah blah blah you should add him on Facebook and I said I'll humor you but you're being ridiculous because I live in England now and I'm not coming home but I added this random person on Facebook and I think his first thing that he said to me was, so apparently your friend thinks that we should talk or something along those lines. And so we just started chatting and yeah, and that's my husband. So Melissa knew me very well and ⁓ I think we sort of. chatted and dated for six months before I moved home. Yeah, it was like a internet dating sort of thing. Facebook, Skype. Managed by your bestie. Yeah, yeah. Cool. Okay, so moving forward, Marco, who's as Prue introduced him as Travalga. It really marks sort of a massive turning point in your career. What made Marco and yourself so unbelievably special? Well, how I came about Marco was special in itself. So I, know, being a groom in England, you get chummy with all of the other grooms. And ⁓ Adele Clark, Deli, she ⁓ was the groom for Sarah Cohen or Cutty as we all called her and she rode for Precious Sparks Stud. So they had this horse and he was you know a giant and he'd been eventing a little bit but you know he had a few problems they'd already given him two operations and the and his wind wasn't great still after the operation and he wasn't terribly careful and so they were just going to put him in the putty, they didn't quite know what to do with him. basically wasn't good enough. And Deli approached the owner and said, ⁓ I've got a friend. She'll probably take him on a lease. And cause she knew I was looking for a horse to ride over there. And they said, yeah, yeah, she can take him on a lease, but if he goes on sound, it's her problem. We don't want it back essentially. So I took him on a lease and he wasn't the most fun thing to ride, I have to say. in the early days, getting his head down was difficult. He liked to go like a camel and he liked to plow through rails. But he was as honest as the days long and he helped me so much riding cross country and his dressage got better and better. ⁓ And so when I decided to come home, I thought I would leave him there. But I took him schooling one day and he just jumped everything and I sort of realized that to purchase one like that in Australia, was just no way I'd be able to afford it. ⁓ So my dad actually paid for him to come home because I said, I want to come home and I want to bring the horse. And so he said, well, if you're going to come home, I'll pay for the horse to come. So that was a great thing that dad did for me. And what was good about, I guess, his dressage was always so reliable that it taught me how to ride a test properly. It taught me how to go for marks and not be conservative because I knew that he'd always be the same underneath me. He taught me how to go for time because similarly, he was always looking for the flags. He would like... It didn't matter how late notice I gave him. If he saw the flags, he would fight to get through them. He was so honest. And show jumping, he taught me resilience and training and patience. you know, I had as many good days on him as I did bad. And sometimes they started out amazing and they ended in tears. But yeah, he, he He taught me absolutely everything about the sport just by being honest and trying his guts out essentially. Yeah what a remarkable relationship you had with Marco and even the ⁓ horses followed after him. ⁓ They really ⁓ set you up for your career What do you think going forward to the now, let's talk about your coaching journey, did you think you were going to just take on a role as a coach or? How did you feel that evolved for you? Well, I started coaching when I was working for Charmaine. She helped me get my level one as part of my pay. Hugh Fasher would come over once a week and we would do a train to teach which was you know really helpful that I could do it in work hours and then I didn't teach much when she was around obviously because she would she would coach but then I got a job like I said in Centennial Park when she went to Tamworth and that was That was really helpful to me because they had ponies, they had students and it was just hours teaching. And you just get better and better and get more practice just by coaching different people on the same pony. So you sort of learn to read the ponies. And then I didn't do much coaching in England but then when I came home, you know, it was something I was always going to return to because I enjoyed it and you know, it's what we all do, isn't it? Which is another weird thing about England. No one, they just ride. They don't coach, they just ride. Which I thought was bizarre. But here in Australia, we need to coach to earn money and I really enjoy it. We've got a really good team of people that come regularly to our place. ⁓ The adjusters that we have are so... so lovely that teaching them isn't really a chore. It's like you're having a conversation with your friend and you're just helping your friend on their riding journey. Like they all help with the kids, they all help with the horses. We're a really good, we've got a really nice team at home of riders and people. Yeah, that's really good. Katie? Talk about, like we're talking about coaching and that sort of thing and I guess I'm really interested in where you see your career as a coach going forward, I think we all know that Prue is the coach that we all aspire to be very- 100%. 100%. And so is that love to gain that status where you become very established as yourself as a coach and be able to go forward with the high performance sort of side of it? Or where do see yourself striving towards as being a coach? I don't like saying those things out loud because as I am as a person. But yeah, like I would love to teach some junior teams and keep coaching my whole career. and get better and better to be, you know, one could only aspire to be the person that everyone turns to like Pru is. But, you know, that comes with a lot of experience and coaching, doesn't it? Like ⁓ the you coach, the better you get. And so the more opportunities you can put your hand up for, the better you get. ⁓ I love teaching clinics and meeting new people and seeing new combinations and ⁓ I love watching clinics. Even when I was pregnant, I'd always go to squad school and try to watch the cross-country lessons, watch a few dressage lessons, and the show-jumping lessons too, obviously, and just to absorb different ways to say something. I have one way to say something that doesn't mean it's the only way, and certainly what one person likes the way... I say it, another person won't understand that. So you've got to be able to rephrase it and reframe it for different people and different horses. An exercise will work excellently for and the other one it'll scare. So it's just time learning how to read people and read horses, isn't it? Isn't it? Definitely. And I'm sure that we could possibly share the story of Rick Sorayo saying to Nick Taliana, know, I'd really love to have another lesson off soon. And Nick said to him, well, Rick, I can swear at you a bit more. You know, it's what you connect with, isn't it, with your coaching and I'm sure that that's probably not the most wonderful thing that Rick probably connects with with my coaching but anyway. It's the excitement, it's the enthusiasm and the excitement. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Okay, so going more now you're riding really interesting young horses ⁓ and ⁓ let's talk about what makes these young ones ⁓ really exciting for you both, ⁓ and yourself. ⁓ ⁓ we've got lots and lots of young ones. we've got, well, hell yeah. Yeah, I still call legs young. So Lyrical Street, he's eight. I guess that's not terribly young anymore. ⁓ But he's very exciting show jumper. I don't see myself eventing him again. ⁓ Never say never, however, he's very good show jumping. So I would like to see how that goes. going to Sydney Royal, which ⁓ makes me feel a little bit scared, but he's going to Sydney Royal in part three. He's very exciting. Nick has a similarly aged horse that's at the same level. So they're sort of ticking along the metre 35s. I've got lots of young ones coming through Michael J and Josh at Vixen Lodge. So they breed some... very nice horses to send up to me to sit on, which is very exciting. I've got two five-year-old mares from him. They will both event. One of them is out of a meter 60 mare by Glenara Rockefeller, which was a meter 60 stallion. So, you know, she's probably more show jump red, but Michael's heart is in eventing and she moves quite nicely. And I think that she'll gallop. So. she'll start, she's going to her first ever event at Sydney in the 60 and she just went up to Tamworth and jumped around the 90s. So she's quite fun hopefully and then another one Elle which is similarly she's actually more dressage bred but she can really jump so she'll be she'll be quite fun as well. What else have we got? Rick Sorayo has some wonderful horses that that Nick and I ride that are very, very much show jumping bred. I've got an Eagle Rock man jumping around 125s. And then we've got a Yuriko, which is an untouchable gelding that is enormous. He's 17, three and he's four years old. So we're very heavy on the younger horses at the moment, but you know, Nick and I really enjoy that. So we'll just tick them over. Rick's will all show jump and Michael's are yet to be seen. So he'd like to them to event, but if they look like they're better show jumpers, then we'll just show jump them. Like it's a moving target. We'll just see what their best at sort of thing. Yeah. You're very lucky to have both of those people behind you with Rick's RAO. He just loves his horses and Michael J as well. Okay, I want ask you about eventing and an event ⁓ in your mind that really you love and what is it about that event? and I just can't to go back there. Which event is that? I think at the moment that would be Elliston. Yeah. Like we went for the first time year before last, ⁓ 2024, and ⁓ I actually said to Millie who was working for me at the said, ⁓ We have to make sure we have a horse for this event every time it runs because the grounds are amazing, the atmosphere is really cool, the dinner on the Saturday night is just so cool that it brings everyone together. And I think that's back to the old days, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, social side. Yeah. And it really makes it social and everyone's in one spot and you can have a drink together and have some really good food and not everyone's just sitting in their truck. it's, they did a similar thing at Tamworth Showjumping. I think they're finding the same that everyone is a little bit separate these days. And so they put on a barbecue. a welcome barbecue and it's free and so it just gets everyone in one spot and creates a bit more community I guess. ⁓ So yeah, Elliston's that I think for me at the moment I went again last year and yeah just the surfaces are amazing and the cross-country is really it's just a new different venue in it isn't it so it's interesting. Adelaide is always something that you want to you want to get to and you aspire to. I had some very fun times at Adelaide with old Marco and Brad as well, Friday straight. Some, you know, some tears as well. But to be able to get to Adelaide and do well at Adelaide is such a big thing in anyone's career. Correct, correct. Absolutely. So beyond that, Katie, where do you feel your bigger picture is building toward? Do you feel as though you're just gonna take some time to build up these young fellas and do all of that and then regroup and come back with a force with some young ones? Or where do you think your career is going towards these days? As someone very wise once said, ⁓ as you get older, you get to realize what phase of life you're in at the time. I wish I could see Prue's face right now, but I can't. ⁓ So I guess the last couple of years have been different for me because of having Allie and Heidi. So I had Heidi in 2019 and Allie in 23. And after Heidi, I was pretty determined to get back out there and prove that I could still do everything. So I did, but I still had Marco. And so he was an old, know, he knew me, I knew him and it was easy to get back on him and just do everything. And then I had Ali and it was hard, like really hard. probably wasn't writing as well as I should have been and I kept pushing to do things that I probably shouldn't have been doing. ⁓ And so honestly, it scared the life out of me. Like I would go cross country and be like, ⁓ my God, don't slip over, don't hurt yourself. Like it's ⁓ definitely a different, different thing having kids and it's not even you worry about them. you worry about yourself because if something happens to you, their lives are changed. And so that hit me pretty hard. So I took 12 months off eventing and I just went show jumping and it was really fun. Like I got to jump some mini pre's on Winston and he is actually quite careful and quite fun and can do a really mean jump off. And then obviously lyrical straight. ⁓ really came into his own and found more scope than I even thought he did have, which was a lot. So that's, you know, that was quite fun. I did, I missed venting a lot. So I went back and I am back, but now I'm a little bit more fluid. Like if a horse looks like they're going to strive more in show jumping, I'll just take them show jumping. Nick and I go to enough show jumping shows that we can. do that. And if one is going to strive as an event, I would love to get back to five star with something. It probably won't be for a while, but you know, that doesn't mean it's not going to happen. I take great solace in watching, you know, Pippa Funnels still eventing, you know, around five star on big strong horses. And I think that there's plenty of time yet for me to get the young ones up and through and get them jumping around four and five star in the next, you know, six years, I guess. So I'm trying to be more relaxed and fluid and not put so much pressure on myself to choose one or the other. I'll just go with the flow. if like when Elliston comes up, I'll make sure I'm at Elliston because I love it. And if there's a you know Sydney Royal I've never been to Sydney Royal I've never jumped at Sydney Royal so I'm aiming for that so I'll just you know why not both? Yeah good on you and I think the big thing riding at Sydney Royal with with you know let's say your your horse that began his began his career as an Aventer that's an amazing event ride at. So well done you for achieving that in your career. All right. And ⁓ I think eventing teaches them so much too. Like I think every horse that comes through us will try to event to start with because they get so much ⁓ good education. legs know so much more having been an eventer. He has more discipline because of the dressage, he has more bravery and he knows how to go when I say go from the galloping and the cross country. It's just, it's such a good education for them whether they're going to be an event or a show jumper. Absolutely, totally correct. mean, I think the biggest thing about the show jumpers these days is they need to be cantering around paddocks a lot more often than they do. So Katie, we're going to kick over to our cool down questions. The cool down questions are, Prue's gonna fire those at you. And they're just, you know, sort of let loose. They're the quick fun parts of the show. So take it away, Prue. Here we go. Prue: Thanks Fee. Thanks Katie for being so open and honest with us. It's really, ⁓ it's great to hear your story and your take on it. So thank you for that, sharing it with everybody. So I've got a couple of questions. Now don't need to go into quite as much detail as you did with Fee, but you know, and if you want to pass, you're allowed to pass. There's no buzzes. So you don't have to, you know, yell your name or whatever word you want to use. Fiona Hughes: Ha ha! Prue: But I'm just thinking you've probably got lots of stories with your two young girls and maybe you could share something as what's the funniest thing your kids have done or said around the horses with you? Fiona Hughes: Probably the funniest was that Heidi wanted me to hop on the Shetland, Jack, his ten hands. I thought that I should take him for a canter because she was struggling getting him into canter. So I jumped on bareback and he pitted me very quickly on my head. Heidi thought it was absolutely hilarious. My back did not think it was quite so hilarious. But yes, there's no neck when the pony puts its neck down. Prue: ⁓ well, you've learnt that one now. So you talked about your working student years. ⁓ What's something that you perhaps learnt in your working student years that you'd still use today? Fiona Hughes: Yeah. roll bandages so that they're tight. Roll, roll, roll to make it tight. Roll bandages. That's definitely a skill that, you know, ⁓ my God. And fast, roll that bandage fast and yeah. Bandage rolling. Yeah. Prue: Yeah, that's good. That's good. What about one thing that people would be surprised to know about you? Fiona Hughes: ⁓ Prue: Something about your cooking maybe or just too many people know what a great cook you are. Fiona Hughes: Yeah, I was going to say that. I'm a cook, terrible housewife. Thank goodness Nick's a good cook. Nick's a housewife. Nick's a housewife. He's a very good housewife. We do. Prue: We all need a wife. Best advice you've ever been given. Fiona Hughes: It's going to sound really lame, but be yourself and do it your own way. Yeah, that's not lame. Prue: Yeah, yeah, that's always good advice. Okay, mum life or event life, which is tougher? Fiona Hughes: Ugh, mom life. Emotionally and physically and spiritually and financially and all of the things. Prue: Yep, I can appreciate that one. Okay, so a little bit more serious. What's the one thing that young Katie would be proud of you today? Fiona Hughes: that I get to ride horses all day? Like, what a cool life. I get to ride horses every day and then I've got an awesome family and awesome friends and I'm basically living the dream. Cool. Well, Katie, I've really enjoyed our chat today and I really ⁓ think that we've got to know you a lot better and I hope our listeners have really enjoyed your story and we'll see you again next